Google for growth ✊ SEO & Google Ads are still a thing!

At Beyond Billables we love doing social and content media marketing for law firms... so much so that at times we make so much stuff about content that we forget many of you live and breathe direct Google referrals. And why not! It is an absolute no brainer for firms to be taking advantage of Google to get more direct client work. If you aren't, you aren't leveraging everything you can from your legal marketing. Obviously for a lot of legal businesses a strong SEO and Google Ads strategy has been something people have leveraged for the last 10 years, but it is surprising that as a whole firm owners know so little about it still. Like with growing great referral networks - we can't work out why it isn't a pre-requisite in the practice management course, it is that important for your business!

At the end of the day, you need to approach your legal marketing with the outcome in mind. With Google, the appropriate question to be asking is,

Whatever you are spending money on in your business you have to take a growth mindset. If I spend X, what return can I reasonably expect? Is that a direct client return, a growth in my brand (so I convert more) or a combination of both? If a matter is worth $50,000 to me, what's it worth to win that work? Many lawyers struggle with this commercial mindset but it is critical to take advantage of the tools at your disposal.

So what are 3 key tips every law firm owner needs to know?

Analytics = Peace of Mind

What is the worst part of spending money? Not knowing what you're getting right? It's the same for you as it is for your clients (actually for most lawyers it is harder, because they aren't used to spending money to make money). The great thing about analytics is the ability to see where your money is making a difference. Want to know how many more people have gone to your website? Easy. Want to see how your ad has converted directly into a prospect? Simple. No matter whether it is your SEO, Google Ads, Google Listings or Social Media Marketing efforts you can map exactly what impact it is having through Google Analytics. Being able to measure the effectiveness over time of your campaigns and react to others in the market (because with some tools you can see where they are having success too) is super profitable.

Being on top of the numbers is is satisfying as well as you can see your growth over time and can increase or decrease your investment accordingly. Wouldn't you spend a $1 to make $2? Every time right? Analytics puts that level of insight into your hands and helps you make better decisions for your business.

Google My Business

Have you got a cracking Google My Business site? If not... you're losing money! The amount of firms who simply leveraged My Listings into hundreds of thousands of dollars is crazy. It is the ultimate “low hanging fruit” and critical to get right. Reviews are very important to buying decisions. How important? Recent studies have shown 82% of all purchasers rank reviews as critical in their decision making. So it goes without saying that you need to collect reviews and encourage clients to leave them. A very big chunk of consumers ONLY use smart phones when searching for service providers as well, making listings like My Business even more important.

SEO

Focus on the right prospects

Finally you have to make sure you have the client right that you want to target. Do you want to attract more direct clients, or perhaps target professional services people who will refer them? Targeting the right customer, excluding others and using the re-marketing tools at your disposal is important. Just like with the Facebook Pixel you need to take advantage of website visitors and re-market to them via Google Ads to grow your profile with them over time. There is much conjecture over how many touch points people need to make a purchasing decision, but either way you want to make sure they are having them with your brand and not your competitors.